The Ultrastructure of Taste Buds in the Newborn Pig

Abstract

Tichy, F.: The Ultrastructure of Taste Buds in the Newborn Pig. ACta 'vet. Brno, 61,1992: 171-177. . . Taste buds localized on circumvallate papillae of the porcine tongue were investigated for the occurrence of dark, light and receptor cells and the stage of their differentiation, the morphology of the taste pore area, the occurrence and distrioution of intragemmal nerve endings and the way in which these are connected with each cell type.It was observed that, as early as two days after birth, the porcine taste buds included all three cell types. These were elongated towards the taste pore. Their apical parts, however, did not come up to level with the epithelial surface nor were they shaped into microvilli typical of the bud ultrastructure described in adult animals of other mammalian species. The cytoplasm of the dark cells had only a low amount of dark secretory granules and the receptor cells showed only occasional occurrence of dark vesicles. The dark, light and receptor cells were connected with nerve fibres and the way of contact was different in each cell type.Taste bud, taste pore, gustatory nerve. ultrastructureThe ultrastructure of taste bud has been studied and thoroughly described in a number of amphibian and avian species (Farbman and Yonkers 1971; and others), in laboratory mammals (Farbman 1965a;Murray et al. 1969Murray et al. , 1972Fujimoto and Murray 1970;Takeda and Hoshino 1975;Takeda 1976; and others) and also in man (Takeda 1972; Paran et aI. 1975; etc.) The results of ultrsstructura1 studies of taste buds have revealed considerable differences which are species-specific and also related to the position of the bud in the lingual mucosa (B e i dler